After placing the wine and the six pack of beer in the back seat of his car, Tony drives a mile before he looks in his rearview mirror. He chuckles to himself. He is still being followed. After the dressing down by Vance, both Ziva and McGee had been trying to talk to him, but Gibbs never gave them the chance. He made sure they were kept busy the rest of the day.

Tony grabs the beer, wine and his go-bag, closing the car door with a hip check. He walks with purposeful strides straight into Gibbs' house.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs says looking up from the dining table.

"I brought you beer," He answers the unasked question. He then places the beer in the fridge, and he opens his cell and orders a taxi to pick him up on the street behind Gibbs' house.

"I have a tail and you have a back yard that borders with a house on a different street. Here are my keys; I parked in your driveway.

Gibbs takes the offered keys. "Did Ducky tell you what kind of wine to get?"

"Yes, two bottles; one for dinner and one for dessert."

"I'll need Mandy's address in case we get called out. I'll have to come get you." Gibbs can see the look of shock on his face. "What's wrong?"

"You just surprised me, you remembered her name. That's all."

"Tony, she is important to you. One day when you feel comfortable, I would like to meet her."

"I'd like that, Gibbs. It's up to her, though."

"Go on, get out of here."

Gibbs watches as Tony carefully makes his way through the back yard and over the small stone fence that separates the two yards. Knowing his team well, Gibbs takes his coffee and makes himself comfortable on his couch with a book and waits.

He doesn't even have to wait an hour before he hears the front door open and sees McGee and Ziva walk in.

"Tim, Ziva?"

"We saw Tony's car and we thought this would be a good time to talk to him, eliminate the air," Ziva says.

"That's clear the air, Ziva," Tim corrects her gently

"Tony is sleeping, he came here with a severe migraine. I gave him his meds and put him to bed. He needs to sleep undisturbed."

"I was not aware that he needed to be babysat when he has a headache."

"It is not babysitting when you are making sure that the person you are caring for does not vomit or choke on their own vomit because of the severe pain. It is not babysitting when caring for a friend who is ill. He will sleep until morning. You two should go home. I'll see you all on Monday unless we get called out."

Knowing that they have no choice, both Tim and Ziva nod their heads and leave after saying a quick good night.

"I wish to talk to Tony tonight," Ziva tells Tim as they walk to his car.

"Not me. I'm following orders and going home. I'll drop you off at your place. What you do after that is your own business, Ziva."

Hearing the doorbell, Mandy wipes her hands on a towel before she answers it, making sure to look in the peep hole. She has to smile at seeing Tony smiling back at her.

"I come bringing gifts," He says as he closes and locks the door behind him.

"What did you bring?"

"Wine for dinner and wine for dessert. Ducky told me which ones were the best kinds."

After placing the bottles on the counter, Tony takes in her appearance; a jean skirt and a green-blue blouse, her long brown hair loose on her shoulders, the true smile on her face reaching her brown eyes.

"You look beautiful. I like the color of your blouse."

"And you're blind."

"I am entitled to my opinion and I think you are beautiful."

She raises her arm to push her hair in back of her ear. It is then that he can see the scars on her neck and arm. Having been burnt as a teenager with scalding water, Mandy is very self conscious about her appearance. Skin graphs can only do so much and the scars she has left she tries to keep hidden from view.

It is one of the things that they have in common; it is also one of the things that they never talk about.

Working together they have the kitchen clean in no time at all. It is a custom of theirs that they will watch some badly made monster movie with horrible acting first. As it is Mandy's turn to pick, she decides it would be a movie about a half snake half gator.

Mandy and Tony couldn't stop laughing all through the movie. It was always a good way to start the night. He left her sitting there, returning in a few minutes with the tablet and the gift cards. The flowers he had wanted to get were not possible because of the car following him.

"Happy Birthday, Mandy," He tells her. After kissing her softly on the lips, he hands her the gift.

"You shouldn't have, but thank you very much!" She tells him as she looks anywhere but his eyes, too afraid of what she will see there.

"You're welcome. They have some graphic art apps that you can play with, too, if you get an idea and you're away from your computer."

She snuggles into his side as they watch the next movie. When he hears her sigh contentedly, Tony moves his arm letting her get closer to him giving them what they both need, but were still unwilling to accept; to love without fear and to feel comfortable being close to someone without having to worry about getting hurt.

He knew that he loved her, the way she snuggled into him, the way her hair smelled. There was not one thing about her that he didn't love. One day maybe he will tell her just how much she means to him.

He knew she was special from that very first time he met her at the supermarket in the middle of the night. He needed some tea, cream and muffins for the morning. Reaching for the same package of wheat English muffins, they bumped hands. That was the start of it. He gave her the wheat ones and he took the oatmeal muffins. It was her demeanor and her eyes so shy, but he could see the fear in there, too. It took three months of bumping into each other at the market and soon it was late night coffee dates at the small diner. The rest was easy. It just seemed to fall into place for both of them. And he couldn't be happier. His one lingering thought that wouldn't go away, what if Vance and Gibbs were right?

It is just past two in the morning when Gibbs hears his front door opening. Sitting on his couch with his Sig Sauer pointing at the door, he can't help but smile as he flips on the light and sees a startled Ziva try and regain her composure.

"Did you need something, Ziva?"

"No, Gibbs, I'll go home now."

"Ziva, we will see you on Monday. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Gibbs, I will not be back."